I knew we were going to Easley,SC in July. I really wanted to stop by and see Hawk's & buy some parts & see the facility to see what it's all about.
My 1st time buying from them over 4 years ago was ridiculous & Bruce got involved & made things right. I bought more later but it's been a while now since buying more but I've increased from one IROC up to 3 now & looking to add a GTA still. Not a junker collector, 87 vert, 89 vert & 89 ttop 5.7 car. Always looking for small upgrades & had a few parts to inquire about.
I called at least a month in advance & left a message for Bruce that I was coming from Missouri to Easley & inquired about at least one item. Never got a return call but headed over anyway.
I showed up at the original location which was on my GPS as the primary location (happened to be about a mile from where my wife spent her days in her childhood vacations visiting relatives) & parked the car with my family inside. I saw a guy outside working on a car & walked towards what looked like the entrance, while walking up we made eye contact & I said is his the entrance? He said: "this is the old location, we have a new location". I asked where that was & he said "the address is on our website".
Got back in the car & tried to locate the new address on the website. No luck, so I called & got it.
Headed to the new location which is nice. I parked again & headed inside. In the showroom I was met by the receptionist & told her we drove 10+ hours from Missouri & just wanted to see the operation & ask about some parts. She said the showroom isn't finished yet & I can't look around anyplace else due to insurance regulations.

Overall my bubble was burst. This is a big operation to just be selling on the Internet. No point in going there I guess unless you want them to do some major work (which no one knew what I was the for). No help, no purchases & no going back again. Total waste of time. I guess email is the business model.
2 thumbs down for me.

 

That was extremely rude of the people at both of those locations.

At the new location she should have gotten someone to show you around even a little bit. Some people just don't care about customer service and the last thing they want is customer interaction when they can just take your money online. I would have hoped Hawk's was different. Never been there myself and most purchases I have made have been good on average.

Sorry for your wasted trip! I would feel the same.

 

I can at least say Classic Industries' showroom in Huntington Beach was really welcoming. I was picking up a wing and they took me in the back of the warehouse to show it to me so we could inspect it for issues, makes sure all parts were there, etc. It was pretty busy there, and was towards closing time, but everyone was really nice!

I had always envisioned Hawks was the same way, bummer.

 

HHow do you see the recptionist as rude or for that matter the guy at the old shop, its a new location he probably didn't know the address .i don't know of any bussiness thats gonna let someone walk in the door and have full access to every part of there operation . When is the last time you walked in to mc donalds to buy lunch [ ie. Your product or item ] and tell the cashier [ your receptionist ] you want a tour of there operation to see what its all about ? A place of bussiness typically has several parts , showroom , warehouse office ,and in hawks case a shop . The showroom is to deal with customers ,everything else is off limits. Receptionist told you the showroom wasn't finished they were probably still setting up displays and such ie a hazard to a customer , you trip over something break your ankle the first thing there insurance is gonna do is not pay the claim . And probably cancel there policy . A place of bussiness like hawks is really hard to insure even for just its employees several dif types of workmans comp because of everything that goes on the office ,warehouse ,shop etc and then the showroom all have different dangers and such . Until you run operate or own a bussiness like theres you cant just pipe up and call them rudebecause you didnt get your way . By the way I've had all good experiences with them

 

I took my kids to a restoration business near us a few weeks ago to go through the showroom. They recently moved to that location and I had not been there yet. We walked in and there was a plain looking office with a receptionist and a few offices.
I asked if the showroom was open and she said it wasn't at this location but up the road. She said to hang on a second and called a gentleman up from the back. She explained why we had come and he was more than to take us on a tour of the facility. He took us on at least a half hour tour through the entire shop and at the end gave me his card and the address for the "real" showroom.
Point being, this is not McDonald's. They are not servicing thousands of people per day, if any, in person. The receptionist doesn't know if you are there to buy a swaybar link for $10 or to see if he wanted them to do an LS swap on his car that would run in the thousands. The receptionist drove away customers willing to pay them for parts. In any kind of retail or business having the right people are key and I think they dropped the ball on this one.
In retail they say for every angry customer that complains there are a hundred more behind him that say nothing and just walk away never to come back.

 

I stand behind what i said not getting into a pissing match with ignorant people

 

In no way did I insult anyone or imply that you were completely incorrect. I have been in retail for longer than I care to admit, and that is not the way to keep customers.
I don't understand the urge to turn to insults immediately on this board.

 

WTF are you talking about

 

I went to Bruces old location several yrs ago. He was fairly busy but I did get to look around a lil bit. Still some places I couldn't go. Working in a shop I do understand that.
I'd guess with the new place still kind of new, maybe the proper protocols haven't been established yet.

 

If i have to explain any further than i did you wouldnt understand

 

Touchy, touchy.

 

I've actually owned businesses and understand your thoughts on this but I ended up looking in my call log & I called Bruce back in April hopong to get to see the place, buy some products and talk with him possibly about making some more convrrtible style bars without a return call.
"Ignorant" is used pretty quickly and possibly you have never owned a business. Mine did over $12 million in sales per year & I ALWAYS brought potential & customers in for a tour of our operations to add value.

The update is: Ryan Adams who works for Hawk's did reach out to me today and this is NOT their typical business model. I do appreciate his efforts & he did apologize that this was just an atypical experience I had.
My wife's family is actually from Easley, SC & we were there visiting family. I thought the whole situation was strange. I will buy parts again from Hawk's but not some of the items I wanted to see 1st hand.

I had no expectations that everyone in the business would drop what they were doing to help me but I figured someone would come out & try to help me with some parts I was there to see & grab some items I wanted to pick up while there.

Also to address the 1st guy at the original location. He was aware that the new location had opened back in January & Ryan did say he possibly didn't know the exact address.

 

Indeed, the reason people rage out can be anything from not getting enough love as a child to simply being a keyboard warrior. My comment was meant to be taken as facetious and rhetorical anyway in reaction to your next level uncalled for put-down.

Point is, where I come from, car people don't treat other people in the hobby like that. If your knee-jerk reaction to other peoples opinions is to act out and call them ignorant, get the heck off this forum

 

rarebmx, really glad to hear they contacted you to apologize and explain! That is great customer service.

 

I just decided to order from Hawkes. It's been ten years since I last shopped for parts for my car, and wow - Hawkes has come a long way in that time.

You folks who complain probably don't know what a typical speed shop was like 25 - 35 years ago. I do! - We've got it easy these days, folks.

 

I'll be 48 in a couple months & had my first car at 14. Had well over 40 muscle cars & just got into these 3rd gens about 6 years ago after selling off our 79 Challenger R/T.
I'm ot in anything to be easy, because easy is something everyone can do. I can throw $ around to anyone. I would rather find a place to be loyal to because everything local has been close for 20 + years.

I will say this, Hawk's Motorsports has done a lot for the 3rd gens but seems like they have growing pains. I would have lived to have bought multiple items they they should have had right there in stock.

 

Hearing you loud and clear on that rarebmx.
We've lost most of our local speed shops in the area. The only ones I know of are specialty shops who cater to circle track, or niche markets like Ford FE drag engines. Small places that are run purely out of passion for the hobby.

I first found mail order when I was overseas in the USAF, and I ordered a 28 page paper catalog from an address I found in the back of a Car Craft magazine. It was for this little parts shop out of Ohio called "Summit Racing Equipment". That was pretty cool because they delivered to APO addresses and the parts for my '70 ZD Ford fairlane would magically show up on the MAC flight in Central Australia within two weeks.
That catalog was a supplement for my J.C. Whitney catalog, where I used to buy my cut-rate engine dress-up kits.
But still - if you wanted hot street heads, you had to comb swap meets for camelbacks or make friends with people who had an old set of 351 cleveland closed-chamber heads under their work bench, then port and build them yourself.
Anyway, I digress.

 

I called hawks a week ago to inquire about some brake parts. Went to voicemail. I left a message assuming I would never hear back. I was wrong. 7o'clock that night , Kyle I think his name was called me back, apologizing for it being late saying he was trying to catch up on calls. I was happy he returned the call and he was pleasant to deal with.
I'm willing to bet they deal with a lot of less than desirable people comin through the door dealing with third gens. Not that it makes it right or wrong, but I could see that wearing on ya